To Repeal The Requirement For A Fiscal Impact Statement For Bills Related To Health Benefit Plans; And To Repeal The Bill Filing Deadline For Bills Affecting Health Benefit Plans Of Entities Of The State.
Summary
HB1080 repeals two existing Arkansas statutes that impose special procedural requirements on legislation affecting state and public school health benefit plans. First, it eliminates the requirement that bills creating a new or increased cost obligation for health benefit plans for state entities must have a fiscal impact statement attached and available before committee or floor consideration. Second, it repeals the rule that bills affecting the State and Public School Life and Health Insurance Program, or otherwise increasing health benefit plan costs for state entities, must be introduced within the first 15 days of a regular session unless a supermajority approves later introduction.
In practical terms, the bill removes a layer of pre-filing and pre-consideration review for health-benefit-related legislation and ends the special early-session filing deadline for those bills. The repeal would make it procedurally easier for lawmakers to introduce and advance bills affecting state employee and public school insurance programs, pharmacy benefits, and other health benefit plans tied to state entities, while also reducing the role of fiscal impact statements and actuary review in that process.
Impact
HB1080 would amend Arkansas legislative procedure by striking Arkansas Code § 10-2-133 and § 21-5-421 in their entirety. That would remove the statutory mandate for fiscal impact statements on certain health-benefit bills and eliminate the special introduction deadline and related supermajority approval requirements for bills affecting the State and Public School Life and Health Insurance Program or imposing increased health benefit costs on state entities. The affected parties include state agencies, public schools, higher education institutions, and other political subdivisions covered by the definition of an “entity of the state.”
Sentiment
The available voting history suggests the bill was broadly supported and noncontroversial in floor action, passing the House 97-0 and the Senate 32-0 on third reading. No committee transcript excerpts were provided, so there is no recorded debate in the supplied materials. The unanimous votes indicate general agreement with removing these procedural barriers for health-benefit legislation.
Contention
No specific points of contention are documented in the provided transcripts, but the structure of the repealed statutes suggests the main policy tension is between legislative flexibility and procedural safeguards. Supporters would likely favor easier consideration of insurance-related bills and fewer filing constraints, while opponents of repeal could view the existing fiscal-impact and early-filing requirements as important protections against surprise costs to the state and school systems. The bill itself does not preserve those safeguards, so any concern would center on reduced cost oversight rather than the substance of any particular insurance change.